Crowds have been growing at the closed border between Gaza and Egypt as Israel prepares to launch a ground assault.
A stark reminder of the war in Israel now lines some streets in Massachusetts.
Posters featuring those believed to be held hostage by Hamas have been printed out and posted on everything from trees to utility poles.
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The idea started with two artists in New York, but the pair made the digital files available for anyone to download. The poster, which features pictures and the word "kidnapped" in bright red, can now be found around the world.
The posters have been spotted in several Massachusetts communities, including Boston, Cambridge, Brookline and Newton.
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Liran Tamam started putting them up in Cambridge. After moving from Israel eight years ago, he said he had to do something for his homeland.
"There are flyers with kids who are just 4 years old," Tamam said. "It's insane. It tears your soul apart."
The Israeli government believes roughly 200 have been kidnapped, but there is no official list. Tamam is part of a team reaching out to families to see if they would like a poster to be made of a loved one.
"We want people to know. We want people to scream to return them back home," Tamam said.
Shiri Frydrich-Barniv, who help put up posters in Boston, said the goal is not just to educate, but also to add to the pressure to help bring the hostages home.
"It's a win-win, because we educate people, but it also gives us purpose. It gives them strength," Frydrich-Barniv said.
For many putting the posters up, the war is personal. Jake Donnelly, who is in charge of activism for the Israeli American Council of New England, said a friend's father is among those who are still missing.
"He was just out fishing on Saturday and now has son has the spent the entire week not knowing where his dad is and if he is dead or alive," Donnelly said.
Donnelly said there have been several reports of the posters being taken down, which the groups find infuriating. It is another sign of just how complicated the conflict has become.
"If you're taking down a poster of a Holocaust survivor who has been kidnapped, or of a 3-year-old child who has been kidnapped, I'm sorry, but I'll call them out whenever I see it and whoever does it," Donnelly said.
As of Monday, more than 1,400 people had been killed in Israel, while more than 2,800 have been killed in Gaza, where a humanitarian crisis has been unfolding. Hundreds of thousands have been trying to leave Gaza since Israel ordered evacuation ahead of a planned ground assault — including a Medway family with a 1-year-old boy. At a rally Monday in Boston, hundreds of people expressed concern for those in Gaza and outrage over the deaths of civilians.
